LG Mobile Phones and Verizon Wireless have announced the upcoming launch of the new LG Fathom VS750 smartphone, which combines the notable smart global capabilities with stylish design and full QWERTY keyboard, based on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 platform.

Apple’s iPad has been getting good traction with more than million units being sold within the first month after its official release. While most of the users are attracted with its great graphics performance (thanks to its A4 processor) with bunch of free games and apps support, some are planning to get one just to enjoy reading e-book on its large screen size. Good news now, Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest online bookstore has just released a new free app to iTune store targeted mainly for iPad users.

In order to utilize its large screen for much pleasurable reading experience, some features have been added as an extra bonus when comparing to other existing e-book reader like iBooks for iPad. For instances, users can easily access and browse to the desired e-book with list view in landscape mode before deciding to go further to read it. Besides, users can tap on any words or sentences to highlight, add notes or even put them into lookup search using Google or Wikipedia (with WiFi or 3G connected), making it much useful than plain e-book reader. However, don’t expect the multi-touch features to be working and there is no way to zoom in/out on the fly with two fingers moving on the screen. Also, there is no way to change the brightness of the screen while in the middle of reading without leaving the app. But anyway, this is just a free app and users can still rely on its internal menu (top right corner) to change the font size, types with margin depending on own preference.

The app is already available for free download at iTune store and good news for new account sign-ups, they will able to get few public domain book besides some bestsellers’ samplers for free without the need to really spend extra buck for online purchase.

Graphics capability is one of the most important elements besides the processor core power in both PC and mobile market. And in order to continuously stay competitively in this market segment, some ARM licensees and even X86 architecture chip maker has actually licensed the latest graphics technology solution from Imagination Technologies, which is famous for its advanced Powervr SGX GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) to be integrated into its processor core for sophisticated graphics processing. Just recently, TI (Texas Instruments) has taken an initiative to license the latest SGX Series5XT from Imagination Technologies for its next generation OMAP SoC (System on Chip).

The new SGX Series5XT is claimed to be able to boost from 100MHz to 400MHz, and is capable to deliver impressive performance with up to 35 million polygons per second. Besides, it will be available in multi-core (up to 16-core) and is compatible to almost every OS like Android, Symbian, WinCE, windows XP and even Vista with OpenGL 2.0, OpenVG 1.1 and the new OpenCL 1.0 support. If you remember, both Intel and Apple are eying on its advanced graphics solution and has already invested additional share into this company with the hope to get some influencing power in their future directions. Some of the famous ARM based processors that had been integrated with Powervr graphics IP include the recently announced Apple iPad’s A4 processor, TI’s OMAP series, Marvell’s PXA310/312, Freescale’s i.MX31, Samsung’s S3C2460/S5PC510, Renesas’s SH Mobile series and many more. From X86 architecture core perspective, Intel’s Pentium based CE3100/4100/4130 and 4150 were also having earlier version of Powervr, besides the US15W chipset that used to be paired with first generation Intel Atom Z5XX (codenamed as Silverthorne). Not to be surprise, there are already more than 250 millions of mobile devices in the market that being powered by Powervr graphics technology.
No official availability yet, but we should expect more and more ARM licensees as well as Intel to continue acquire its latest graphics technology ready for their next generation SoC suitable for multimedia centric applications.

Intel Corp is famous for its thermally efficient Atom processor especially in the netbook market. And in order to eliminate the possibility of cannibalization into notebook segment utilizing its other processor and chipset families, the giant chipmaker has set the boundary of maximum panel resolution capped at 10.1-inch since day one. And good news now, if the rumor is true, it may have plan to remove such restriction in conjunction with the release of dual-core N550 Atom processor by Q3 this year.

The move could be due to few reasons. First, with more and more powerful Intel Atom processor (or its companion chipset) that could handle 1080p full HD (High Definition), it requires larger screen that can showcase its capability without limited by 10.1-inch resolution that stays merely at 1024 x 768 pixels. And even before N550 availability, Pine Trail and Broadcom CrystalHD combo is believed to be able to scale up the display panel size and resolutions, unlike its first generation Z5xx (codenamed Silverthorne) or N270 (codenamed Navy Pier) that being blamed for their inferior graphics and video decode performance. Secondly, its strong opponent, ARM based architecture are believed to have next generation smartbook that could potentially feature with relatively larger (more than 10.1-inch diagonal size) and so there is a need to prepare itself to stay competitively in this market space.
However, this doesn’t address the cannibalization of notebook sales and perhaps the giant chipmaker will come out with other differentiation factor to try avoiding such scenario either with different price point, form factor or others that could differentiate well from notebook category

You may have seen some notebook designs with convertible dual screen and when the top screen being flipped, a touch screen on reversed side will surface that able to transform the whole notebook into tablet PC which could be flexible and useful for those that prefers to tap or touch on screen directly as a replacement of conventional hard keyboard. However, the recent prototype disclosed by MSI may slightly change this hybrid design and instead of rotating its LCD display, the new concept focuses on its keyboard base and by simply flipping the keyboard by 180-degree, users will able to utilize its trackpad which was hidden underneath in normal configuration.

Named as SketchBook, it is still in early concept definition stage but recently its physical design was disclosed by MSI and spotted at an event in Amsterdam. While it looks not much different from conventional notebook at first glance, but when its keyboard base was flipped over, a trackpad will appear and users can input or sketch anything using its bundled stylus, just like what can be done on a paper. The targeted market segment could be either professional artists (if the screen size is not a concern) or children educational purpose (if the pricing is affordable) or for those that prefers hand writing or sketching more than keyboard typing.

Since this is still in early conceptual phase so no pricing information yet and don’t expect it to reach consumer market soon. And one inconvenience that we realized is that unlike rotatable tablets that you can change the view without lifting the whole machine from your desk, the Sketchbook concept may require some extra effort in order to lift its keyboard base before ability to turn it.

For convenience’ sake, users sometimes tend to share files and folders so that their colleagues from the same department can copy or modify some documents. When you share files or folders, the shortcoming is you do not know who is actually accessing them unless you have a utility such as ShareWatcher to help.

ShareWatcher is a free Windows utility which helps users to keep an eye and to monitor their shared files or folders. This tiny utility will monitor the shared files or folders and alert users when their shared folders are accessed as well as when files are added to others’ shared locations. Users can trace and be notified if someone is trying to access some files or data store in the shared folder. Necessary action can be taken for unauthorized access from personnel.

ShareWatcher can be downloaded free via the link here to keep track of users’ network activity.

Accidental loss of important data can be a truly painful experience especially when you realize you don’t keep a backup copy and the lost copy is the only copy you have. This might be due to many reasons such users having accidentally deleted the data, the data files are corrupted, the hard drive has been formatted, bad boot sectors, and so on. If you are unlucky and happened to be the victim, perhaps the comprehensive data recovery application, iCare Data Recovery, might give you a solution.

iCare Data Recovery normally is priced at $69.95. However, the developer now is giving away this software for free from May, 21, till May, 25. Users who want a copy of this data recovery tool can download it from iCare-Recovery Free portal via the link here, or directly download the setup installer: icaredrs.exe and enter the license code “2K1XB2X964MPHOCJ8M1RYIJF0OVHFOFH”.

Meetings are meant to be productive activities with certain specific purposes to be achieved such as decision making, discussion of issues, etc. However, sometimes when they are not properly planned without specific goals or agenda, the meetings are not only boring but a waste of time. On many occasions, you may be aware you are attending an unproductive meeting but your role, say, as a consultant or service provider prevents you from excusing yourself. Perhaps a good way to indicate to your clients and alert them of the fact is to bring along a TIM clock! Alternatively, you are the paymaster and would like to highlight to your staff that they are wasting invaluable time and money in unproductive meetings.

TIM or the Time is Money clock is an interesting meeting cost calculator and clock that will do instant calculation on how much money has actually been spent in a particular meeting if it is dragging on and on. This device is pretty easy to operate. Users just need to key in the number of people in the meeting room and an estimated hourly wage of the respective attendees. Once this is done, users press the illuminated start button and the calculator cum clock will start working. This fun gadget for sure will catch everybody’s attention when people start looking at the money piling up as the clock continues ticking. It indirectly informs the chairperson or boss: “Look, how much money you are wasting for this idiot meeting!”. Besides, TIM also features an audible and visual fifteen minute reminder to remind users with a light beep sound and simple visual light flash on every fifteen minute interval. The alert indication is not really strong and will not really irritate meeting attendees. It is a good time keeper to ensure meetings are kept short and sweet.

Besides being a meeting cost calculator and clock, TIM can also be used for other purposes. For instance, general workers or some consultants are paid hourly; the device can be used to show proof to clients their actual working hours to prevent any dispute in calculation. TIM costs $24.99

Looking for an extreme convenient, true hands-free solution for easy communicating on the road? The world’s leading provider of innovative Bluetooth peripheral devices and accessories, BlueAnt Wireless is planned to launch its new sleek, stylish BlueAnt S4, which the company claims as the world’s first voice controlled Bluetooth car speakerphone, allowing drivers to communicate completely using just their voice commands, without the need to touch their handsets or car speakerphones while driving – all with the cool BlueAnt S4.

In addition to voice control capability, BlueAnt S4 also incorporates Vlingo SafeReader application that able to read out all incoming text messages and e-mail with just the touch of a button, fully compatible with BlackBerry smartphones and Google Android 2.0 or newer mobile devices.

Features of BlueAnt S4:

Say trigger phrase “BlueAnt Speak to Me” to activate voice recognition
Say “Answer” or “Ignore” for responding to an incoming call
Say “Phone Commands” to activate voice dialing
Store up to 2,000 phonebook entries per paired mobile phone
True multipoint for connecting and conducting calls on 2 cellphones simultaneously
Pre-loaded with Vlingo SafeReader app that designed to read out SMS and email, utilizing text to speech (TTS) technology
High-performance, full duplex speaker for a rich, superior audio quality
A2DP streaming capability for playback of music, podcasts and directions from GPS navigation app on handset
Integrates with Microsoft BING-411 for a handsfree gateway to a world of information, including stock quotes, movie times, weather, sports, news and traffic updates
Talk time: up to 20 hours ; Standby time: up to 700 hours
Size: 124 x 60.7 x 16 mm
The new powerful, portable hands-free BlueAnt S4 voice controlled Bluetooth car speakerphone that comes with 2 metal visor clips for easy attaching to the vehicle’s sun visor is now available at Best Buy, scheduled to hit AT&T stores beginning May 23 for approximately $100.

Steam has released Steam for Mac client for gamers and players using Mac OS X system to enjoy the supported game titles available on Steam Store. When trying to install Steam game client onto Mac OS X system, typically on /Applications folder, a stop halt error error may occur with the following message.

Steam requires that Applications/Steam.app/Contents/MacOS be created on a case-insensitive file system, with read-write access.

Mac OS X, like most Linux operating system, uses case-sensitive file system where two files with same name, but different capitalization may co-exist.

For Mac OS X users who are using case-sensitive file system, but want to install Steam, here’s a workaround to successfully install Steam, by creating another case-insensitive volume:

1. In Disk Utility, create a new partition (of your preferred size and taking into account the
file size of the games you plan to install). Label the partition as steam (in lower
case), and format the new partition as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system.

2. Copy Steam.dmg to the new partition created.

3. Create the following folders on the new partition:

/Application Support/Steam
/Documents/Steam Content

4. Create symbolic links to point the default location where Steam client for Mac will look for
to the actual location where they supposedly exist, on the case-insensitive volume. To create
the symbolic links, open Terminal, the type the following commands:

5. Select the Steam app in the new partition, and press Command + L button to create an alias of
Steam app, then drag and drop and alias into Applications folder for easy access.

6. Steam can now be ran properly, with games and content installed properly.

For users in a situation where it’s impossible to create a volume on existing partition,
using disk space allocated to existing partition without actually partitioning the physical
hard disk anymore.

1. In Disk Utility, create a New Image.

2. Give the new image file a name (Save As), e.g. Steam and choose the location to save the
image file (Where). Then, set the image characteristics as below:
Name: steam (in lower case)
Size: any (the image will expand the size when required and the size is the maximum size the
image can take)
Format: Mac OS Extended (Jornaled)
Encryption: No
Partitions: No partition map
Image Format: sparse bundle disk image

7. Select the Steam app in the image, and press Command + L button to create an alias of Steam
app, then drag and drop and alias into Applications folder for easy access, where the volume
will be automatically mounted too.

8. Steam can now be ran properly, with games and content installed properly.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program by Microsoft which is part of the Microsoft Office suite for Microsoft Windows operating system. In other to allow anyone who likes to open and watch Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (created in PowerPoint 97 though PowerPoint 2010) in all formats on their computer without the Microsoft PowerPoint installation, Microsoft has released a new PowerPoint 2010 viewer for viewing PowerPoint presentation in full-fidelity.

According to Microsoft, the new PowerPoint viewer is expected to present all the new transitions, video and effects exactly like in PowerPoint 2010.

WinX DVD to iPad Ripper, from Digiarty Software, is a new powerful, user-friendly DVD to iPad ripper app, which designed to rip and convert most DVD movies to all iPad-compatible video formats including iPad MPEG4 and iPad H.264. In addition to Apple iPad, the DVD to iPad Ripper also can support converting DVD to iPhone, iPod and Apple TV, extracting music and images from DVD video to output as MP3 and JPG, BMP formats, respectively.

Features of WinX DVD to iPad Ripper:
Rip and convert virtually all DVD to iPad video formats
Control audio and video parameters for video optimization
Ultra-fast conversion speed with multi-core CPU and Hyper Threading technology support
Customize file Setting by naming the display name and artist name
Detect and connect with input and output devices automatically for extreme convenient
WinX DVD to iPad Ripper normally priced at $29.95. As part of time-limited giveaway promotion, interested users now can download the full version of WinX DVD To iPad Ripper at no cost.

To grab a free copy of WinX DVD to iPad Ripper, you just need to download the setup installer of WinX DVD to iPad Ripper: winx-dvd-to-ipad.exe, and input this this license serial key – WINXD2-IPAD-64280-15975, to activate the software to a full version.

The worldwide leading maker of smartphones, HTC Corporation has unveiled its new HTC Wildfire Android-powered entry-level smartphone, which boasts renowned HTC Sense that helps users to stay up to date with their favorite people’s status on-the-move. HTC Wildfire is featured with a new app sharing widget that allows users to recommend their friends a cool, useful downloaded application via e-mail, SMS as well as social networks, offering a easy, fast way to find and download the applications from Android market.
Features and Specifications of HTC Wildfire:

528MHz Qualcomm MSM 7225 processor complemented with 512MB ROM and 384MB RAM
3.2-inch TFT touchscreen display with QVGA resolution
5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
New app sharing widget for easily, conveniently downloading an interesting application
Google Android 2.1 OS combined with HTC Sense user interface
Built-in A-GPS, compass, G-sensor, light sensor and proximity sensor
Powerful 1300mAh battery supports up to 490 minutes of talk time (GSM)
Size: 106.75 x 60.4 x 11.99 mm
“Today’s social networks provide an essential forum for friendship with more than 400 million users* – many of whom are young adults – actively sharing their lives with their friends through Facebook,” commented Florian Seiche, Vice President of HTC EMEA. “HTC Wildfire makes the HTC Sense experience available to young mobile users for the first time. It brings all your communications into one place, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images or email, ensuring that you are never far away from the conversation and always close to your friends.”

The new advanced HTC Wildfire candybar-style smartphone is expected to hit European and Asian markets beginning third quarter of 2010, the prices may vary depending on region.

Garmin-Asus has officially announced its latest Android-powered touch-enabled smartphone, named as Garmin-Asus A10, which includes an array of advanced, powerful features that ideal for pedestrian navigation.

Garmin-Asus A10 full-featured Android smartphone that comes with a powered audio mount for magnifying the voice commands’ volume is expected to hit European and Asia-Pacific market by mid-2010, but no words on its price yet.

Many people might not be bothered about the default page layout shown in the famous social site, Facebook, as long as they can log in and continue to enjoy the services and activities there. Having said that, there are still many Facebook enthusiasts who have different opinions and a lot to say about the default layout. Instead of waiting for the developer to change the page layout, a free Google Chrome extension, Facebook Styler, offers Facebook fans some options to personalize and customize the page layout to suit their needs and enhance the functionality of this popular social site.

With Facebook Styler added to Google Chrome, users can go to the application’s option page (Tools ->Extensions) to make some changes and customize the page layout. There are 8 feature tabs in the Option page which users can click on and do some changes to the Facebook page layout in Google Chrome: Extension, Sidebar Position, Transparency, Fixes, Filter, Colors, Hide and Changelog.

Users can click on each particular tab to help them customize their personal Facebook page. Amongst the changes users can do include:

Misplacing the flash drive is a common occurrence due to its small size. The flash drive is portable and handy but losing important data may cost you a lot more than just inconvenience. The data you have backed up in your pen drive may be highly personal or important and you do not want them to fall into the wrong hands. To safeguard your private and confidential data from being leaked out when incidents like this happen, getting an encryption tool such as USB Safeguard can be a good idea.
USB Safeguard is a free and portable security application for Windows users to encrypt their data in the USB drive. This portable program does not require any installation. To protect and encrypt sensitive data files saved on the pen drive, users just need to download and save the application to the drive. Users can launch the encryption application from the flash drive itself and enter a security password when prompted with the application interface. Users can choose to encrypt the entire flash drive or select one or more folders to be encrypted. Users can just drag and drop the files in the drive for encryption. Users are given options of either keeping the original files after encrypting or deleting the original files with the built-in file shredder. USB Safeguard offers users a few options in case somebody tries to access the flash drive unsuccessfully. Users can set to delete the data stored or continue to leave the files there.

Besides the encryption feature, USB Safeguard also incorporates the ‘Safe Internet Browsing’ option which allows users to launch Internet Explorer from the flash drive safely without leaving any internet traces on the host computer such as cookies, URL history, passwords, etc. USB Safeguard also offers an on-screen virtual keyboard where users can enter their security password without using the physical keyboard when they use the flash drive on high-risk computers. USB Safeguard uses 256-bit AES encryption to protect users’ date.

DPF (Digital Photo Frame) is getting good traction among consumer market with more and more feature sets being integrated into it. You may have heard or seen WiFi connected, VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) convergence with media oriented Digital Photo Frame but 3G capable one could be something new and may able to attract certain users especially those that don’t own a home broadband service but intend to stay connected with convenience way of photos sharing. Good news now, Pandigital has confirmed an official release of its next generation DPF, named as PAN8008DW that will be enhanced with 3G capability and is scheduled to be released by middle of this month.

PAN8008DW will be equipped with a 8-inch backlit LED with standard 800 x 600 resolution. Internally, it has a built in 1GB memory that can easily be used to store thousands of images thanks to its memory optimization technology. And now with seamless AT&T cellular network support, users will able to access those new picture images emailed from friends or relatives directly without complicated files transfer and copy actions. Similar to other DPFs in the market, all these images can be rotated with easy customization on its color and brightness and users can view/listen all the compatible AVI or MP3 media playbacks just like what can be done by portable media player but at a larger screen size and higher resolution. To expand its memory space and ease up file transfer, there is also a USB port and 6-in-1 media card slot being designed into the sleek and stylish form factor suitable for home and office environment.

At a suggested retail price of $180, consumers will be able to enjoy 300 photos sending over 3G network and once the quota is reached, they still can top up the service with 100 additional photos at $9.99, 400 photos at $29.99 or 700 photos at $49.99 depending on users’ needs.